The Unmarked Mate

Chapter 35

Elestren

My sleep was agitated again. I opened my eyes to find myself back on Dark Hedges. My feet were bleeding, I was cold. I was carrying something in my arm, I looked down wanting to reassure Maisie, but it wasn't Maisie, I was cradling my father's wolf's head, his warm blood dripping down my arms. Then Lucius was in front of me.

"You think your Lycan will love you like I do?" asked Lucius with a despicable smirk.

"You don't love me Lucius, you never had! You tricked the bond; nothing was never real!" I snapped back.

"It's the only kind of love you deserve!" he spitted out.

"What do you mean it's the only kind of love I deserve?"

"You're my mate, remember that, until death! I'm the only mate you'll ever get! Your pretty Lycan is a mere distraction! He will never love you whatever you might choose to believe! He will leave! They all do! He'll find his true mate and he will love her as she deserves! You'll be back here soon. When he'll abandon you, you'll come crawling back, begging me like the little slut you are!" he sneered.

"Enough! Lucius, you may be the only mate I'll ever get until death; and yes, perhaps one day James will leave, indeed they all do, and you're right when he leaves it will surely be the biggest pain in my life, a harder pain to bear than anything you have done to me! But I choose a day, a week, a month of happiness in his arms, even if that means a lifetime of misery. All the things you have done to me, killing my father, stealing my life, torturing me, raping me over and over again for a month, whipping me, beating me! I won't break! I will never break from anything you do to me! Pray that he doesn't leave too soon, because when he does, I'll have nothing else to lose and I will kill you myself, and if I die in the process, so be it!" I answered him with determination. Everything vanished, I heard someone crying far away, I looked for the source of the sound but I couldn't find anything. So, I let it go and kept on sleeping.

When I woke up, the sun was still up, it was the middle of the afternoon. James was sitting next to me, bent over on his chair, his face buried in his hands, his shoulders bopping up and down in a silent sob. He was the one I had heard crying. My heart clenched, what happened? I extended my arm to cup his face, he looked up, his cheeks covered in tears. No, what was it? I didn't want him to cry.

"What is it?" I asked worried, sitting up on the bed to be at his level.

"Nothing, I'm just being silly!" he lied. Something was troubling him, but he wasn't ready to tell me. I just wanted him to be okay. So I moved to sit at the side of the bed, with my legs on the floor. Opening my arms to him.

"Come here!" I smiled to him, I wanted to hold him, to let him know everything was okay. I wanted him to be okay. He hesitated for a second but then he moved from the chair, went on his knees and embraced me back. This time his head was buried in my chest, I held him tight. I didn't know what had happened, I didn't know if I had done something, but whatever it was I needed to let him know I was there for him as he had been for me.

James

She had fallen asleep. She was truly exhausted. It was one or two in the afternoon. I had taken a book to pass the time while she slept. But then her sleep was agitated again. She was having a nightmare, I feared she was dreaming about him as the Jenkins told Arthur she would sometimes. I wanted to go to her but she started talking in her sleep.

"You don't love me Lucius, you never had! You tricked the bond; nothing was never real!" I heard her mumble; she was dreaming about that man. I didn't know what to do.

"What do you mean it's the only kind of love I deserve?" No that wasn't true, what did he tell her when he had her for her to dream about such things? She stayed silent for a bit; I hoped the nightmare might have come to an end but then...